Designing, analyzing, integrating, testing, launching satellites.

Instructed lab students for AERO 401, Intro to Propulsion Systems. Coordinated experiment procedures, lab safety, and pre-lab setup. Performed pre-lab testing for four major propulsion experiments: solid rocket motor thrust analysis, hybrid rocket motor thrust analysis, turbofan jet engine operation and thrust analysis, and supersonic wind tunnel flow testing. Machined parts for the labs such as nozzles for hybrid rocket motor and fuel core casings.

Ran combustion analysis cases via fortran-based Two-Dimensional Kinetics program to analyze performance for various liquid rocket engines. Performed and presented performance trade studies for various propellant configurations.

* Worked part time while pursuing my master's. Responsibilities included writing procedures for and performing assembly of avionics boxes used in military and law enforcement aircraft * creating mechanical designs and performing assembly for a wide variety of client projects including latching mechanisms, electronic enclosures, custom CNC mills * 3D printing and functional prototyping.

Designed, analyzed, and integrated 6 structural components used in the 1st stage engine compartment on the Antares space launch vehicle using CAD modeling and FEM analysis via I-DEAS Nastran and FEMAP. Assisted in the analysis and fabrication of countless other components. Wrote hundreds of pages of technical reports identifying mechanical design, integration, and structural analysis challenges and solutions. Interfaced with suppliers and customers, both foreign and domestic. Presented designs and analyses to internal review boards.

A passion turned into an experiment in after-hours entrepreneurship selling the Nyx Tracker, a budget friendly star tracking mount for astrophotography. Successfully selling for two years, we have shipped to 17 countries and counting! 4 primary fabrication methods used: laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC routing, and PCB printing.

* Working full time with scientists and engineers at MIT’s astrophysics research institute to propose, develop, and commission instruments that operate in space and on the ground. Projects to which I have contributed: * LLAMAS, an NSF-funded spectrograph array for the 6.5 meter Magellan telescope in Chile * WINTER, an NSF-funded robotic infrared telescope in Palomar, California * DeMi, a DARPA-funded tech demonstrator cubesat operating in orbit * Giant Magellan Telescope, a 25-meter telescope under construction in Chile * TESS, a NASA-funded photometric space telescope searching for exoplanets * NICER, a NASA-funded x-ray telescope operating on the International Space Station * STARSPOT, an MIT-led NASA proposal for an Explorer MO photometric space observatory * ARCUS, a Harvard SAO-led NASA proposal for a MIDEX x-ray space observatory * STAR-X, a GFSC-led NASA proposal for a MIDEX x-ray space observatory * WISDOM, an MIT-led NASA proposal for a precision radial velocity spectrograph